September 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Archives
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Recent Posts
- WaPo: Americans have turned against police cameras that track license plates, new survey shows
- W.D.Tex.: What is the duty of the neutral and detached magistrate?
- D.Me.: Yes, more investigation could have been done, but there’s still PC on what there was
- CA3: Brady doesn’t apply to SW materials
- E.D.Mich.: Person a cell phone was given to as gift could consent to search
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
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Section 1983 Blog -
"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me -
"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well."
–Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw), Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things (1868) (erroneously attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, among others) -
“I am still learning.”
—Domenico Giuntalodi (but misattributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (common phrase throughout 1500's)). -
"Love work; hate mastery over others; and avoid intimacy with the government."
—Shemaya, in the Thalmud -
"It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers."
—Charles Dickens, “The Old Curiosity Shop ... With a Frontispiece. From a Painting by Geo. Cattermole, Etc.” 255 (1848) -
"A system of law that not only makes certain conduct criminal, but also lays down rules for the conduct of the authorities, often becomes complex in its application to individual cases, and will from time to time produce imperfect results, especially if one's attention is confined to the particular case at bar. Some criminals do go free because of the necessity of keeping government and its servants in their place. That is one of the costs of having and enforcing a Bill of Rights. This country is built on the assumption that the cost is worth paying, and that in the long run we are all both freer and safer if the Constitution is strictly enforced."
—Williams v. Nix, 700 F. 2d 1164, 1173 (8th Cir. 1983) (Richard Sheppard Arnold, J.), rev'd Nix v. Williams, 467 US. 431 (1984). -
"The criminal goes free, if he must, but it is the law that sets him free. Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence."
—Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 659 (1961). -
"Any costs the exclusionary rule are costs imposed directly by the Fourth Amendment."
—Yale Kamisar, 86 Mich.L.Rev. 1, 36 n. 151 (1987). -
"There have been powerful hydraulic pressures throughout our history that bear heavily on the Court to water down constitutional guarantees and give the police the upper hand. That hydraulic pressure has probably never been greater than it is today."
— Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 39 (1968) (Douglas, J., dissenting). -
"The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property."
—Entick v. Carrington, 19 How.St.Tr. 1029, 1066, 95 Eng. Rep. 807 (C.P. 1765) -
"It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. And so, while we are concerned here with a shabby defrauder, we must deal with his case in the context of what are really the great themes expressed by the Fourth Amendment."
—United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 69 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) -
"The course of true law pertaining to searches and seizures, as enunciated here, has not–to put it mildly–run smooth."
—Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 618 (1961) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). -
"A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable."
—Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 325 (1987) -
"For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. ... But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected."
—Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967) -
“Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded
rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
—United States v. Olmstead, 277 U.S. 438, 479 (1925) (Brandeis, J., dissenting)
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“Liberty—the freedom from unwarranted intrusion by government—is as easily lost through insistent nibbles by government officials who seek to do their jobs too well as by those whose purpose it is to oppress; the piranha can be as deadly as the shark.”
—United States v. $124,570, 873 F.2d 1240, 1246 (9th Cir. 1989) -
"You can't always get what you want / But if you try sometimes / You just might find / You get what you need."
—Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"In Germany, they first came for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for
the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came
for me–and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."
—Martin Niemöller (1945) [he served seven years in a concentration camp] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"The point of the Fourth Amendment, which often is not grasped by zealous officers, is not that it denies law enforcement the support of the usual inferences which reasonable men draw from evidence. Its protection consists in requiring that those inferences be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime."
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Category Archives: Probable cause
TN finally rejects Aguilar-Spinelli for Gates under state constitution
After rejecting Gates in 1989 and retaining Aguilar-Spinelli as a matter of state constitutional law, Tennessee finally adopts the totality of circumstances test of Gates. State v. Tuttle, 2017 Tenn. LEXIS 190 (April 5, 2017) (see Treatise § 6.36 n.4):
D.Me.: When acting on smell of burning MJ, officer doesn’t have to determine whether def has an MMJ card to nullify PC
The smell of marijuana in a national park led to the ranger seeing defendant with a vaporizer smoking device and a stronger smell. This was probable cause, and probable cause doesn’t depend on the officer inquiring whether the defendant has … Continue reading
NY4: Testimony at trial can’t be used on appeal of a suppression issue
Even if defendant had standing, the search was justified by consent. “In contending that the resident did not give consent, defendant improperly relies on testimony of the resident of the home at the first trial, which ended in a hung … Continue reading
OH5: Child sexual assault victim’s story to the police led to SW for 2d grade teacher’s classroom for CP
Defendant was a second grade teacher convicted of gross sexual imposition on some of his female students too whom he also showed child pornography. One of them ratted him out to the police, and that resulted in a search warrant … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Being a drug dealer by trade doesn’t mean one’s house is subject to search; a bit more required
Being a drug dealer by trade doesn’t mean one’s house is subject to search. It is, however, an inference that can be drawn along with other facts. United States v. Couvertier, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40270 (M.D. Pa. March 21, … Continue reading
DE: Heavy foot traffic between a house there is PC as to doesn’t make the other subject to search
Heavy foot traffic between two homes is not indicative of criminal activity even where there is plenty of probable cause as to one. The other home is not guilty by association. State v. Harding, 2017 Del. Super. LEXIS 113 (March … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Pictures on def’s Instagram account corroborated CIs
Defendant’s Instagram pages allowed agents to see photographs of firearms and bottles of promethazine with codeine (“molly”) and marijuana. Defendant was already a suspected molly distributor with two prior cocaine convictions, and that substantially helped show probable cause for a … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Telling def to stop moving his hands in a car wasn’t a seizure
Telling defendant to stop moving his hands around while he’s sitting in a car isn’t a “seizure.” When defendant complied, the officer who stopped him could see the corner of a baggie for drugs in plain view on the console, … Continue reading
CA10: Considering info omitted from SW affidavit, there was still PC and outcome wouldn’t change
There was probable cause for plaintiff’s arrest based on a co-conspirators statement. Omitted information was considered by the district court on the probable cause question, and this court agrees it wouldn’t change anything. Claeys v. Mohr, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
KS: Reclined seat here created inference of concealment of something; thus, PC
The officer saw a plastic baggie on the console with the corner torn off. Coupled with that, it was a reasonable inference that the passenger seat was reclined to conceal evidence. They added up to probable cause. State v. Howard, … Continue reading
OH8: Taking pictures of sex with a minor with a cell phone supports SW for home computer for storage
The child victim’s claim that defendant used his cell phone to take pictures of the two of them having sex logically supported a search warrant for defendant’s computers in his house because of the ease with which images can be … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: Affiant officers in drug cases don’t have to be chemistry experts to state conclusions about drugs
The affiant officers stated conclusions about the chemistry of some of the drugs in the 24 search warrants issued in this case. The law doesn’t require they be chemistry majors, experts, or Walter White to state those conclusions when the … Continue reading
CA5: Detention on a “mental writ” was reasonable
“Holloway is a six-foot-six, former Mississippi State University offensive lineman who was in a car accident with a deputy near Hattiesburg in Lamar County, Mississippi.” Later, he was described as “formidable.” It turned out there was a “mental writ” issued … Continue reading
SC: No specific facts showed PC that drugs would be found at def’s house; CoA reversed
“More to the point, the assertions in the affidavit in this case contain no specific facts showing any connection between drug-related activity and 120 River Street after February 2009. See Tench, 353 S.C. at 534, 579 S.E.2d at 316; Kinloch, … Continue reading
E.D.La.: Not every detail needs be included in affidavit; omissions here only would bolster PC
Defendants had standing in packages shipped to them under assumed names. As to the affidavit: “In terms of any omissions, neither the omission of the statistics on the “profile,” nor the omission of information on the dogs’ reliability, warrants the … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Officer’s testimony is just too convenient to be believed
In a remarkable opinion, the court finds the officer’s testimony just too convenient and, thus, incredible and suppresses the seizure by an alleged plain view. Also, the plain view required manipulation, and that’s not plain view. United States v. Mata-Peña, … Continue reading
FL1: Arrest for invited use of school track for exercise was without PC
Defendant was arrested without probable cause for using a school track for exercise. Despite a school no trespassing sign, there were signs inviting public use of the track and every school patron, neighbor, and police officer apparently knew it except … Continue reading
TX11: Smell of MJ from car and def’s person justified search of both
The smell of marijuana coming from a car and then defendant’s person when he got out is probable cause to search both. Defendant said he smoked all the marijuana five hours before the stop. Then he was found chewing it, … Continue reading
FL2: Cloud of smoke coming from a group gives PC as to no one person without more
“Simply put, the odor of marijuana emanating from a group cannot, by itself, form the basis of a lawful detention of any particular member of that group. Nor can the fact that each member of the group engulfed in ‘billowing … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Mere shareholder in a business had no standing to challenge SW
As a mere shareholder in a business, defendant had no standing to challenge the search warrant of the property. At the time of the search, he had no personal interest in it. United States v. Taylor, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading